A look at balancing the crazy 24/7 world - join the adventure.

07/30/2010

Two weeks from now I'm moving 300 miles away from here and I am remarkably relaxed. It has been crazy summer days, and yet I feel good. When we finally made the decision to move, we made a long list of everything we needed to do to make it happen. From finding a new house and selling our old to little things like all the places that need a change of address and beyond. We included work relayed, house related and friends and family. We took the list and divided it up to sections for each week until the move and now each week we are simply checking off tasks just as we do on our normal to do list. Frustration has cdrveloped as things we had hopes to wrap up quickly didn't such as finding a new house (finally got one today, hooray!). And of course some open items we can't control and that adds stress (read that as buy my beautiful home today, please.). But all in all I feel netter than I have any otherove despite this time moving with two kids and having many more items on the list. What I have learned is that dividing any big project into smallanageable weekly chinks makes it relatively stress free. Being relatively stress free alloww me to enjoy the process. While I will miss the Bay area, I am excited about our new adventure and relaxed enough to enjoy it.

07/12/2010

So those of you who read here often may just not have been reading here
at all. Why? Well, because I have been what one could easily call
negligent in posting new thoughts. I have them, lots. Some are even
borderline brilliant but I haven't written them down. Among my top 3
excuses (not good ones):

1. My kids were on vacation for a week - I got out of my groove.
2. I'm finishing the book; I can't be bothered elsewhere, I might run out of interesting things
3. I'm moving.

Okay, so number 3 is a biggie, but none of them are true reasons. No,
in the last three weeks I have ignored every one of my own work life
balance tips. I have been unfocused- entering into time sinks of
blogs, articles and email when I sat down to work. Having lots open
unrelated to the project I was working on and clicking back and forth.

Playing Sudoku on my iPhone instead of writing ( I like to blame my
husband for putting it on my phone, but that's just one more excuse).
Listening to the daily show while working online (not one episode more
like ten.). Actually trying to work without a to do list so that I was
so overwhelmed by what needed to get done that u ended up doing
nothing.

I didn't unplug, focus my time, organize my to dos, set
aside time for me to do something just for me, or look at the big
goals. And while at first it was fun and valuable to just take a
break. By last weeks end I was feeling pretty lousy about where I was.
So here I am back at Monday again. I have organized my to do list
into quadrants, deleted my Sudoku app from my iPhone, and returned to
where I want to be.

An hour and a half into my list I've already
checked off three tasks, when I finish this it will be four. I feel
like me again and like I can manage my balance. And if I can keep on
track u look forward to lunch with a good friend on Friday and maybe
even a little shopping after. It's going to be a great week.

06/10/2010

“What everyone wants from life is continuous and genuine happiness.” -Baruch Spinoza

You are up at 5 am answering email and trying to finish one last report when your sleepy-eyed toddler with tousled hair sneaks in the office looking for you. “I want a mommy cuddle,” she says sweetly, and your heart melts. You scoop her into your arms. The remainder of the morning is devoted to reading, making breakfast, and shuffling the kids off to here there and everywhere. By the time you return to your laptop, you have forgotten what you were going to say and not sure you care anyway. Your shower was a race against the clock, and your hair is in a ponytail for the fourth day in a row because frankly that is all time allows for these days. You are on a whirlwind course and while you thought you could have it all - work, kids, and partner - you doubt seriously the hubris of your folly. Who were you kidding?

06/09/2010

Some good ideas, but other atrocious ones. Cover them in cheese? Are you kidding? What's the point of that. If you cook fresh vegetables all the time, kids just eat them, especially if you do it from day one. My kids' favorite dishes - broccoli soup, roasted red pepper soup, scrambled eggs with roasted aspargus, and while technically not a vegetable, tomatoes eaten like an apple. The problem kids have with vegetables is that they come to them flavorless (not bought fresh) and over cooked. I HATED peas as a kid because my mom cooked the frozen ones until they were grey. Grab a fresh snap pea and watch your kids and you eat them like candy.

Great post! These are the questions we need to be asking and we, as voters and citizens, are the most powerful in changing the system. We are virtually failing every student population from gifted to struggling from every socioeconomic background. Frankly, if the lawmakers all had to send their kids to the local schools, I bet they would really do something about it instead of waxing poetic in campaign speeches. Way to take them to task, Wendy!
MF
Blog: http://cubes.typepad.com/cake

Yesterday California held it's primary election. Among the most
notable of stories was the win by Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay, for
the Republican gubernatorial nomination. While much has been written about how she bought the election, which in many ways is true, I am pondering the $81
million she spent on this election. At the current rate of spending
per voter, she would need to spend over $327 million leading up to the
November vote, over $100 millionaire than John McCain spent running for
President. For more on the spending, checkout Chris Kelly's article in
the Huffington Post.
When I think about the ridiculous sums spent on campaigns, I get angry. And I look for a perspective on the situation.

If we took the $81 million already spent, just by Whitman and add $150
million which seems to be the consensus estimate of what she will spend
up to November, we get $231 million.

$231 million spent just in the education system represents:

4010 additional teachers in our schools OR
$755 more spent per student OR6,000+ additional library staff OR506,000+ more computers and technology available in classrooms OR5,000+ specialists in schools for everything from reading and physical
education to after school programs and support for the gifted.

And while Ms Whitman is an obvious target, the amount spent on
campaigns across the country is atrocious. Especially when you think
of other places the money could go: education, health care, jobs, small
business loans, etc. I wonder if our politicians think about how their
exorbitant spending reflects on them. Paying for a private jet and
airport fees to fly what is a 33 mile drive could hire 2 of the
estimated 100,000 teachers across the nation who are being laid off for
the upcoming year. Why should we elect them to do anything when they don't really know how to budget well? Where do you wish the campaign funds went? How
much should they be allowed to spend?

I love this tart because it is very simple and quick, but most of all because it is scrumptious! Tomato tarts are a big hit in our family and we do everything from heirloom tomato with goat cheese to the one below with tomatoes, thyme and an egg filling for a heartier meal. Serve it with a fresh salad on a summer evening or as part of brunch. I recommend making your own tart dough in the morning so you are ready at the end of the day. If you are rushed, you can use a premade dough. Enjoy:

06/08/2010

I gave my husband an iPhone for his birthday this year. He was quite
possibly the last of his friends to get a Smartphone Within hours he
had found and downloaded enough apps to fill four screens.

I have two
screens of apps. They could fit on one but I don't like the clutter.
I have had my iPhone for about 2 1/2years and never once been to
the app store. I dong even know how to access it. I'm a smart girl; I'm
sure I could figure it out, but I haven't as of this writing had a
reason to.

In the past week he's played Super Why with the kids, taken hundreds of
pictures, plenty of video and found apps for everything from craigslist
to sudoku, I didn't even know he liked it! I love my iPhone, but for
me it is definitely a tool. I check email, stocks and weather; write
blog posts; get directions or find ice cream near the museum,
research articles on the web, and oh yes, make phone calls. My hubby,
I guess more part of the web culture, quickly turned his into primarily
a toy but also a tool for finding jobs, reading about political issues,
and searching for homes. While you won't see me in the app store any
time soon, I do have a new appreciation for all my little phone can
access and do.

06/07/2010

This tart is fresh blueberries, more fresh blueberries, a little sugar and a fresh tart dough. While the dough is rich, everything is so tasty so you can only eat a sliver and it is all full of goodness. Delicious end to a summer day:

06/03/2010

"I want to go to Japan," announced recently turned five year old Sofia.
"we can take a paper crane and place it at Sadako's statue". Sofia
had recently finished reading Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by
Ellen Coerr. Fascinated and saddened by the story, she had already
read it three times in the past week as well as researching the statue
on Wikipedia with her dad and using the Atlas to calculate the distance
from her home to Hiroshima, Japan. At 3 1/2 Sofia had already been
assessed with an IQ at genius level and was evaluated at five as highly
gifted. Not that her parents needed a test to show them her level of
intelligence. Mastering telling tell time had been a mere hour lesson
while on vacation just because she wanted to learn.

Sofia's parents, like others of highly gifted children, are
disenchanted and disturbed by the lack of resources in the school
system for their child. Lack of funding often eliminate programs for
gifted and talented and even so those programs often only consist of a
twice a week pull out. So two hours a week the child isn't bored.
Parents turn to private school, home school or hoping to support the
kids' talents at home. It is a dilemma.

The regular classroom

Regular classrooms are challenged by gifted students. While
heterogeneous class makeup is in vogue, the downside comes in teachers
having little resources to allow gifted children to work at one, two or
more levels above the majority of students. Often gifted students are
utilized as teacher's helper in teaching the other students. Boredom
and as a result acting out are common on highly gifted students in
regular classrooms. It is the talented teacher who can challenge the
kindergarten child that can divide and utilize decimals in the same classroom
with those just starting to recognize letters. Some districts such as in New York City are devoting schools to gifted and talented but that is the exception. Unfortunately, the
existing cookie cutter school system leaves little resources for such
innovation.

Private school

I've written on cake before about private schools. Private schools
often afford more attention with smaller classes and choice in the
philosophy of education. From traditional to Waldorf to Montessori
there exist a myriad of options depending on your location. In silicon
valley we score an A for private school options and a C in public
schools (learn more on Forbes.com). Private schools can be an
excellent option. They can also be an expensive education that is no
better for the gifted student than the local public school

Homeschool and the gifted

A growing number of parents of gifted children in desperation are
opting to home school their children. It does not work for every child
nor every household. It takes time patience and dedication. Kathi Kearney shares a story of a parents' decision to home school their three sons as
the decision to become their kids "education facilitator". I love
this. Recognizing they couldn't always be their children's best teacher,
they expanded their resources utilizing tutors and University experts
to teach as well. A common criticism of homeschooling is that parents
might not have the knowledge to teach their children. If we are
discussing the bare minimum expected in our school system, I would be
surprised to discover that parents weren't well equipped for the job.
And while home school kids often move ahead of their traditional peers
regardless of IQ, the unique opportunity for them to develop expertise
and in depth study exists. Creative parents use tutors, university
students, online resources and museums to supplement in areas where they
may lack expertise. I, myself who am not homeschooling at the moment,
have learned more about muscles, bones and the human body than I ever did
in biology simply due to my daughters' passion and curiosity about it. But homeschooling is another option that is neither right for everyone nor a possibliity for everyone.

So, while we create more cookie cutter schools what do we do for the gifted, the struggling and everyone in between?